ORWA, Quin Elizabeth Awuor (Dr)

Abstract Doctoral (PhD) research in public universities in Kenya is no longer a luxury but essential for national development. However, education policy-makers in Kenya continue to express concern about the poor state of doctoral research in Kenyan public universities. Furthermore, public Universities have been facing significant and persistent pressure towards expansion in recent years; this trend has led to significant pressure in offering quality doctoral education. Education stakeholders are constantly questioning the value of doctoral graduands public universities are presenting to the market and why foreign Universities still remain attractive. The determinants of current key challenges and manifestations are complex as they reflect historical and global processes of African societies and countries. Therefore, this paper uses a case study approach to describe in detail the contemporary circumstances in thirty one (31) Kenyan Public Universities and six (6) constituent colleges for a period of five years (2013-2018). It presents some of these challenges experienced by Kenyan public universities in producing doctoral graduands acceptable in the labour market and implications of this to national development. Further, it recommends policy change to address these challenges. A critical issue is the need for Kenyan Universities to have compulsory and effective Quality assurance mechanisms to improve on the competencies of their graduands to be absorbed in the labour market hence lead to sustainable economic development. Key words: Quality assurance, sustainable development, employability.